How many of you have children? Did you have any idea, while you were painting the nursery and picking out your first set of onesies, how much of your life would get taken over? Children take a huge amount of time and attention. And of course it gets worse when they start to crawl and then to walk and when they start to talk it seems like practically their first word is “no!” And before you know it they’re begging for the keys to the car.
How old were your kids before you felt you could leave them alone without a babysitter? When they’re really little, a lot of parents don’t even leave the room for 10 minutes - even when they’re fast asleep in the crib - without turning the baby monitor on. Maybe by the time they’re 12 or 13 you’re pretty comfortable with giving them an hour or two on their own. And while you might go out for an evening leaving a 15-year old in charge, with a complete list of instructions and your cell phone number, I doubt if there’s anyone here who would leave their 15- or 16-year old home for a week without adult supervision.
Look at the sort of thing that happens when parents leave their children alone for too long. They start living on breakfast cereal and frozen pizza. The laundry may not get done. Maybe they skip school. And in all too many cases, they have parties. Wild ones. Dangerous ones. Parties that leave the neighbors calling the cops and the house in a shambles. It can happen even with “good kids” as the parents’ absence gets over-ridden by peer pressure. And that’s even when the kids know where the parents are and when they’ll be back.
Last week the new exiles were behaving like picky 6-year-olds: “I hate manna! I want chicken nuggets!” Is it progress to note that this morning’s story places the Israelites’ emotional development pretty squarely in the adolescent stage? Because they behaved just like a bunch of teenagers left too long with the keys to the wine cellar.
At the beginning of the 32nd chapter of Exodus, “The people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain.” [v. 1a] Moses was up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights. Now, this may seem like a lot, but it’s the standard length of time for a spiritual retreat. And they knew where he was. You’d think they could at least wait until the deadline. But no. Remember what happened before Moses left.
Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.” Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. [Ex 24:14-16]
Did the people really fear that God had swallowed Moses alive and that they would have to go it on their own? Or was this a gross act of rebellion, a deliberate rejection of the One who brought them out of Egypt? How do we discern what’s really going on? We do have some clues. Back in chapter 20, the Israelites had asked Moses to mediate between them and God.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” [Ex 20:18-19]
They were scared witless. So maybe this is panic more than rebellion. They fear they’ve lost their only safe connection to God.
But is that true? Is fear really what motivates the Hebrews? Resentment is much more to the forefront of their state of mind. Listen to how they speak about Moses. “As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” [v. 1b]
I think that fear of abandonment is the Israelites’ excuse, not their reason. They knew where Moses was, they knew that he would return. But they are here, he is there, no one is looking, and character is what you are when no one is looking. They are doing what they want, not what Moses tells them to do, and he isn’t the boss of them! They want a different kind of god, one who doesn’t ask so much of them. This new God was an invisible God with impossibly high standards. The ten commandments were only the tip of the iceberg. They have new responsibilities and obliga¬tions, from how they are treat their servants and their women - in most cultures back then their status was virtually the same - to detailed instructions for handling criminal and civil cases. And they’d all signed it in blood, and this new God could strike people dead in an instant. But who was this Moses, anyway, that he should have the only insight into God and what God wanted? Surely there were many different ways to worship! Why not have a god who was ok with wild parties? Everybody else had statues and booze - and often women - as part of their religious celebrations, what was wrong with that? The old gods were content with offerings and holidays and let you alone the rest of the time. And you could even bribe them if you wanted special favors. They were a whole lot easier to live with.
Now if anyone had asked, “Would you rather have a golden calf or the promised land?” no doubt the Israelites would say they’d rather have their own country. But that’s pie in the sky bye and bye, and why should they believe Moses anyway? He wasn’t there anymore, with those scary threats and unbelievable promises.
So they went to Aaron, whom Moses had put in charge while he was gone, and suggested that since Moses was no longer available as God’s mouthpiece, they really, really needed a different way to connect with God. And Aaron said, “okay.”
That’s what really boggles the mind. This is Moses’ brother Aaron, who has personally witnessed every single thing God has done through Moses and to whom Moses had given his parting instructions, and Aaron doesn’t even say, “wait a minute, don’t give up yet, let’s give it the full 40 days before we do anything rash.” Far from it. Instead, Aaron says to them,
“Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD.” [v. 2-5]
Now, I don’t think that Aaron is much of a rebel himself. His problem is that he wants to be liked. He’s a people-pleaser. And the immediate pressure from his peer group was a whole lot stronger than any thought of future consequences. My guess is that Aaron didn’t have any strong opinions of his own. He’d bend whichever way the wind blew, and then use his gift of gab to make it sound good. Maybe he’ll be able to talk his way out of it this time... “It wasn’t really my fault, Moses, how could I stand against the will of the people?” I can almost hear him say. “I’m not like you, I was raised to obey orders and stay out of trouble, you can’t expect me to change overnight, can you?” So Aaron abandons his responsibil¬ity to faithfully reflect Moses’ wishes to the people in exchange for being part of the in crowd.
There were no grownups left in the room. And so in one short passage, just a few days after they had sworn an oath and sealed it in blood, the Israelites had broken the first three commandments. They had given credit for their delivery from Egypt to a different God, they had made an idol, and they were using the name of God to sanction their unlawful worship. And God, who has had a birds’-eye view of the whole disgraceful episode, is understandably pretty angry. But Moses, who had only heard about it, but hadn’t actually seen it for himself, argues for mercy. Just as Abraham did before Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses appeals to God’s reputation, saying:
Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out.... Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them... all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.” [v. 11-13]
Well, God yields to Moses’ pleas - and that’s a subject for a whole ‘nother sermon. But he doesn’t let them off completely. There is still a price to be paid.
When Moses comes into the camp, the actual sight of the debauchery so shocks and appalls him that he dashes the stone tablets to the ground. But think. This isn’t just a temper tantrum. Remember, that the Israelites have already broken the commandments. You can probably look at this as a symbolic recognition of the fact that the covenant they had just made a few days before is no longer in effect. In fact, during the argument God and Moses had up on the mountain, God has stopped calling the Israelites “my people,” he now calls them “your people.” And now Moses gets it, too. Forgotten are his pleas to God to spare the Israelites, he’s ready to kill. Or at least to carry out whatever punishment God sees fit. Which is where arming the Levites – that’ Moses’ own tribe - to kill those who continued to worship the calf comes in. Three thousand dead was the first installment of God’s sentence.
Faced with a choice, the Israelites rejected God.
Faced with another choice, Aaron went along with the majority.
Faced with a third choice, Moses first argues for mercy, then obeys God, and they finally offers himself up as a sacrifice for the rest of the people. “…If you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” [Ex 32:32]
Why didn’t Moses wash his hands of the whole sinful bunch? God had offered him that option, making a nation out of his descendants instead of trying to whip Abraham’s offspring into shape. What made Moses different? Why didn’t Moses take the easy way out? It’s not even the fact that God was with Moses that swayed him; after all, the easy out would have been to agree with God, instead of to argue with him.
Part of the difference is long-term thinking versus short-term thinking. But part of it is a combination of trust and discipline. We live in a mobile society, everybody’s always ready to up stakes and move on. High divorce rates, absent fathers, working mothers, high labor turnover, temporary jobs. Many of us can’t commit because of our expectation of abandon¬ment. We no longer believe in the promised future. It’s safer to always have your suitcase packed. And of course we have excuses for our willingness to bail out of tough situations. It’s our parents’ fault, it’s our teacher’s fault, it’s our spouse’s fault. I sympathize. Been there, done that myself. But what about the Hebrews? They were a tight knit, interdependent group – but they had unquestionably been betrayed by the Egyptian ruling class. They’re not used to good government. They only trust each other, and very often not even then.
So in a very real way we can understand why the Israelites had trouble trusting in, much less obeying, an unknown and invisible God, especially when the stakes were so high. It was only Moses, after all, who had met God face to face. But remember it was their choice not to risk that awesome encounter, and it was their choice that led them to a lesser god rather than believe the promises. They had opted to trust in Moses rather than God from the start. So they only have themselves to blame for their failure. Having chosen the visible over the invisible from the start, how is it surprising that when their sight failed both their courage and their motivation also failed?
They blame their abandonment of the covenant on Moses’ absence. And we do that often, too; when a person or situation betrays or disappoints us, we blame God. And then we use that betrayal to excuse our own abandonment of God. But He is never absent, even if we cannot see him. We are never without adult supervision, even if we shouldn’t need it by now. God is never breaks the covenant, he is the very opposite of abandonment. Belief in his eternal presence is the only cure for the fear of abandnment. Belief in the future leads to obedience in the present. And the Christian who has moved beyond adolescence in their faith journey understands that.
And the truth is that we can all stand a whole lot more heat than we really want to. And just because we’re in a tight spot does not mean that we have been abandoned. On the contrary: often the reason God has us on the grill in the first place is to melt out the impurities and mold us into something beautiful and useful. Remember what Moses said back in chapter 20... “God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”
This moment in the wilderness was a test... but a test with very high stakes, and the people failed. “How can you expect us to be faithful when times are hard, God, when things aren’t going our way, when our peers are putting pressure on us?” they cry. But he does expect us to be faithful. And his turning up the heat doesn’t force us to be unfaithful against our will, it just shows whether our faith is real or counterfeit, whether we really believe in God’s promises for eternity or not. How your kids behave when you leave them alone shows you - and them - very clearly whether or not they’re grown up enough to be trusted with the keys. And when God tests us, that’s the question we need to ask ourselves. Are we spiritually mature enough to make good decisions even under stress? Or will we abandon what we know to be true about God for the sake of a feel good quick fix?
Now I want us to stop and think for a minute.
People always blame God when things go wrong - even though 9 times out of 10 it is we who have first turned away from God. And people always try to find ways to wriggle out of their responsibility. At the beginning of the chapter we’re told that the Israelites were worried because Moses had been gone too long. But does that excuse really hold water?
How many times have you - or someone you know - or someone you have read about - has chosen to give up on God because pick one:
“God isn’t watching” “God is taking too long to act, I’d better take matters into my own hands” “Circumstances have changed, I’ll rewrite the rules” or “God has abandoned me.”
When you have needed something from God and felt forgotten, wanted something from God and got turned down, didn’t like where God had put you and wondered if perhaps he hadn’t made a mistake, how do you respond? Do you renew your vows and seek God’s wisdom, or do you run frantically around medicating your discomfort with short-term solutions, with things and entertainment? Think about a time when someone has tried to push you into something you knew was wrong, or a time when you should have stood up against injustice but we’re afraid to stick your neck out. Have you been able to say no, or have you gone along? And have you ever been tempted to get even with someone who really deserved it, or rejoiced in the misfortune of someone who blew it and deserved whatever they got? It’s awfully easy, when someone who’s done something really rotten gets their comeuppance, to think “Yes! God got ’em!” But that’s not our call, is it. Think instead of Moses, and how he defended the indefensible, just because they were his charge, dumb sheep who needed their shepherd.
Thank God for our intercessor. Thank God that - even when we forget the One who bought our freedom and chase after idols instead - we ourselves are never abandoned.
